UN peacekeeping chief warned of security vacuum as Blue Helmets leave Lebanon

The UN's peacekeeping chief warned on Wednesday that pulling "Blue Helmets" out of Lebanon and Western Sahara risks leaving a dangerous security vacuum. He said the Security Council remains divided over what, if anything, should replace the missions, according to UN News.

The mission in Western Sahara has already closed. It shut on 31 October after 35 years. In Lebanon, the force that has patrolled the border with Israel since 1978 is due to cease operations at the end of the year. Lacroix asked what happens when there is no longer a third-party presence between the Lebanese army and the Israel Defense Forces. He said the organization is losing some of its longest-standing military deployments, with no guarantee that the countries concerned can maintain stability on their own.

The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) still has around 7,500 peacekeepers serving, UN News reports. The force acts as a go-between for the Lebanese and Israeli armies, monitors violations and helps humanitarian aid get through. Lacroix, who had just returned from Lebanon, said President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam told him they feared a "security vacuum" once the peacekeepers leave. In their view, no one would be left to stop border incidents from turning into clashes. He also raised questions about the future of the Blue Line, which the UN drew to mark Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000.

Lacroix also pointed to a humanitarian cost. He offered a cautious estimate that about 10,000 people are still living between the Blue Line and the forward defense line Israel has set up inside Lebanese territory. The estimate comes from Lacroix, as reported by UN News. Their access to aid depends heavily on UNIFIL. Secretary-General António Guterres put forward options in June, but the Security Council has yet to agree on any follow-on arrangement. Lacroix urged council members to decide what form a future international presence could take.

The Western Sahara closure followed the same deadlock. The UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) ended after council members failed to agree on renewing its mandate. Russia vetoed a United States draft that would have reshaped the mission around a solution based on autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty. A rival Russian text calling for a one-year renewal fell short of the nine votes needed to pass. MINURSO was set up in 1991 to monitor a ceasefire between Morocco and the Polisario Front. It never held the self-determination referendum it was created to organize, and hostilities in the territory resumed in 2020. Lacroix confirmed the mission is now in its liquidation phase. The UN is urging the parties to show restraint and says it remains committed to a political solution that provides for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara.

Lacroix said that the answer to new threats could not be purely technical. He had also visited Syria and peacekeepers in the Golan, where he said UN observers were receiving civilian complaints about detentions, movement restrictions and property seizures linked to the Israeli military presence. Their mediation, he said, led to several people being released and some property being returned. In Abyei, the territory disputed by Sudan and South Sudan, recent drone attacks have shown another growing danger to peacekeepers and the civilians they protect. The UN is reviewing its military and technological capabilities, but Lacroix said that above all it is a matter of "political responsibility".